The entrance to the forest was not as intimidating as I thought it would be. From all the stories I kept hearing from my parents and my siblings, one would think the forest was a demented place full of monsters and demons, carving their weapons and just waiting for the right moment to attack.

I didn't get that from my first glance. In fact, I didn't get any kind of atmosphere that would make this place be scary or haunted.

The trees shook softly, letting leaves fly through the air as though they were nothing but simple feathers. The wind whistled through the area and gave off a soothing song, almost as if the woods itself had a theme of its own.

The atmosphere was one of peace and tranquility, with the relaxing sounds of animals living peacefully being echoed to my position. There were no howls, no screams, no angered shouts to signify any kind of rage towards our presence.

Nothing but a calming melody, almost as though the natural environment was welcoming us in with open arms. It was as if nature itself was pleased with us visiting its own home and wanted to share the beauty of the habitat with us.

This set-up did not make me relaxed at all. Rather, if anything, the calm and beautiful appearance this forest was giving off put me more on edge.

I felt as though there was a siren present, singing its entrapping melody to lure in their prey. A trap in the form of a gorgeous landscape, just waiting for some stupid idiot to trigger its devious mechanisms to destroy the intruder.

After all, this was Atlasia I was in, where random encounters could happen every time in the forest. Any kind of monster could live in there, like goblins, kobolds, and slimes. Anything could pop up out of nowhere and start trying to murder us with passion.

Nevertheless, I needed to stay on my guard. There was no telling what kind of horrible threats were lying in wait in the foliage, just waiting for us to drop our guard before they slaughtered us.

I looked around, just to make sure who our combatants were and who I could possibly rely on if I got overwhelmed at any moment.

There was Sally, who was wearing a shirt and pants, instead of the normal sun dress she always wore. Buan was dressed in some trousers and a thick lined shirt, with a small scythe to harvest ingredients.

I wrote them off as protectors, then turned to Buan's five brothers. They were all equipped with leather armor, with three of them wielding spears and two of them carrying bows.

They all had red hair, with each of them in varying sizes and shapes. Only one of them had a goatee growing, and he simply looked at the three of us before smiling widely.

"Alright, here we are. Welcome to Preckle Village's forest," he said simply as he swept his arm towards the woods, while wearing a proud smile on his face.

I looked at him with a blank look, before I tipped my head in confusion. Preckle Village? Why did that name sound so darn familiar?

Damn it! I know for a fact that the village wasn't the homeland for the protagonist, because the name of that place was Fambil Village. I didn't know which continent in Atlasia I was in or even the country, how was I supposed to narrow down the information?

Shit! Why was I drawing a blank right now? This was the worst time to do this right now?

"Are you okay?" These words penetrated my thoughts and cleared my mind, and I couldn't help but look for the person that asked the single question.

I looked directly at the person who said those words and I found that the culprit was Buan. He was looking at me with genuine concern in his eyes, with a hand held out that was grabbing my left hand.

"Are you sure you're fine coming back here? Didn't you get injured badly the first time, Feliza?" Buan asked, looking me in the eyes with an expression of concern. "We can still turn around and head to the village center."

He was looking for my reaction. What was he expecting? Fear, gratitude, despair, what? What was he looking for in my expression?

"I'll be fine," I said, as I turned away from him to look at the forest. "I was just stuck thinking about something. Don't worry too much."

"Okay, if you say so," Buan said a bit nervously. As if on cue, his brothers snickered a little and started elbow-bumping each other in the chest.

What did they think was so darn funny? I couldn't get a joke that was going on here.

"Well, let's head on inside to the woods, shall we? Can't just talk all day out here, after all." The goatee man said casually, before moving in to the forest with all of us together.

"Remember what we told you," he said calmly as we walked forward. "Keep together, don't diverge off the path from us, and make sure you stay with us at all times."

As if I needed a reminder for that. I'm not stupid enough to ignore basic instructions and try to diverge off the path.

But if what Buan said was true, that they haven't dealt with any kinds of threats during their foraging trips, then I might just have to slip out from this group.

"This is the worst play date I've had by far," grumbled Sally as we kept on walking through the forest.

I could only sigh at her words. She did realize everyone else could hear her, right?

"Cheer up! This is only the long walk to the secret place that we usually hang out at." One of the older guys stated factually and happily, as he walked with his spear over his shoulder. "Trust me, all this walking will pay off in a bit!"

"Yeah, we're heading to a spring! It's really beautiful with a waterfall and everything!" I don't care about that, I care about fighting something to get stronger.

As much as I liked this little nature walk through the woods, I needed to find some way to sneak out from the group and find something weak to fight and kill. I needed to-

"Ugh, can we stop? My feet hurt and I've got to use the restroom!" We all turned and looked at Sally, who was squeezing her legs together and looking right at us with watering eyes.

"We've only walked for a few minutes though-" Buan started, before he was stopped by his older brother with a single pat on the shoulder.

"Go right ahead, little lass. Hey, can you go and look over her? Make sure she's not alone when she's doing her business." The same man asked, looking right at me with a warm smile.

I just nodded my head like I was a bobble-head, before following Sally. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at this situation. Could she really not hold it in just for a bit longer, at least until we got to the darn location in question?

The two of us moved past some bushes and trees, and arrived at a small clearing next to a small river.

I looked away and took a step back, just to give Sally some space to go use the restroom. After all, I didn't want to see someone urinating right in front of me.

"Hey, hurry up so we can get back to the group," I said, with a small hint of annoyance in my voice.

Instead of getting a simple yes from her, I got a simple giggle as a response from Sally. I turned around, and instead witnessing a small girl urinating, I got a perfectly fine girl who was currently giggling with her left hand over her mouth.

"Sorry about that, but I wanted to get away from those guys for a moment," she said rather giddily. "I wanted to just talk to you and only you. No one else involved in our little conversation."

She leaned towards me a little, putting her hands behind her back as she gave me an innocent smile that could have caused a young boy to skip a beat in his heart. "That's fine, right?"

"Sure," I said plainly. I wasn't affected by her little charms, I was a young girl that had seen too much and experienced way too much harm for me to be set off guard. This was something I was way too used to as a way to worm into someone's good side, and to simply break them mentally.

In a way, I have to thank Sally. Not only did she get me away from the group in such a natural way, but she was reminding me of the school bullies back in Japan.

In a weird way, I was feeling nostalgic all over again. Thank you so much, and as a reward, I'l listen to whatever bullshit you want to spout.

It's the least I could do for all the trouble you went through for this stupid set up anyways.

"I want to ask a question." She said with a disgustingly sweet tone. "Is that alright with you?"

"Go ahead and ask." I replied harshly. "You know we don't have all day to stand here."

"Fine." She said, frowning slightly. The tone of her voice had gone from sweet to something of an ice cold nature, which fit her more.

"D-do you... -l-like..." Sally stuttered, unable to fully get the words she was intending to get out completely. Her face was currently a mix of embarrassment and concentration, with the obvious intent to gather the willpower needed to ask the question.

"Just ask already. I'm not going to stand here all day t—"

"W-what do you think of Buan?!" She shouted. Her face flushed crimson red and she had both of her fists clenched in front of her. She was gasping for a while, glaring right at me, waiting for the response I would give.

I froze. Any kind of words that would come up to my mouth were halted strongly in my throat. There was no way I could easily respond to such a question.

All of my thoughts coalesced into one single idea. One single sentence to summarize the entire thought process I had in my head.

'What the fuck?'

What? Why? Why the hell do you even want to know what my opinion on Buan is? Was it really so important that you had to get the two of us alone in some random goddamn forest just to ask? Was it really worth all this darn trouble just to figure out what my feelings for Buan were?

This... this was utterly retarded. This was the biggest idiotic moment in history I think I have been present to be

I better curb this small interrogation before it takes up way too much of my precious time.

"That is such a dumb question." At my cruel words, Sally seemed to deflate completely, as though she was a tire that had just gotten slashed open. I didn't get why, but that really didn't matter at this point.

"Why does my opinion on Buan matter to you?" I asked Sally in a strongly harsh tone, harsh enough to inflict serious wounds on a person's mind. "Rather, why do you even care? To be honest, that isn't even important right?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, utterly confused. Instead of getting more depressed, she straightened her back as if there was a ruler behind her, ready to slap.

"Why do you care so much on what I think about Buan? It's not even important at all!" When those words left my mouth, I felt the atmosphere change little by little. Sally started giving off an aura of pure hatred as she glared right into my eyes.

"Well it is to me!" She shouted, stomping her foot down to the ground. "I need to know what you think of Buan personally!"

"How the hell is this important to you? Who cares what I feel for Buan, it's not like it'll affect your relationship," I replied calmly and rationally. This was so dumb.

"It just is, okay?!" She screamed right back, taking a step further. I glared right back at her; she seemed to be unperturbed by my presence. "So what if it is stupid? You shouldn't have any problems answering a stupid question at all!"

The two of us stood there, glaring at each other, not daring to make another step. We were like statues, watching each other to ensure no brawl would occur between the midst of our presence.

We were at a standstill, with no end in sight.

Then, we both heard a menacing growl come from behind us. One that wasn't loud, but the mere sound of that single aggressive tone made the both of us freeze in our tracks.

We began to sweat terribly, and goosebumps began to grow on our arms. I turned back slowly, carefully, to try to spot what was threatening us at the moment.

There, I saw a pair of glowing scarlet eyes from behind a bush, glaring right at us. I could feel dread pouring through my entire body, and I couldn't help but to simply quiver in utter fear.

Then, the being behind the foliage came forward. The face was revealed, and I couldn't help but feel a small amount of relief as they walked up to the two of us.

That didn't mean my fear went away. I was still terrified about what I was about to fight, with my own belief in success going down the drain.